Ali was beaten two times in his prime time by Joe Frazier,and Ken Norton, towards the end of his career by Leon Spinks and his failed comeback by Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. So it is not as if Ali was invincible as factors could play in upsetting or wrecking a boxer's career no matter how great or g,reatest he was/is. Like personal and domestic problems, inadequate preparations and poor conditioning, health issues and the bane of all boxers, father time.
However, to answer your question as to any boxer/s now that could actually compete and beat Ali at his very best, I don't think there are any, notwithstanding the size and heft advantage of most heavyweights of today over the heavyweights of Ali's time. The character, skill and talent level of Ali was simply extra ordinary even in the present setting.
It depends if weight-class matters then I would probably say it's unlikely. If it doesn't then I would say there are, and were several boxers who would have been a challenge for Ali. One thing that has to be remembered is Ali technically was a crap boxer, but he was fast. And this is what made him so good. There are several boxers out there who would have been/be a challenge for him as he also had a low-guard. This means someone like Mike Tyson, given the right opportunity, with one punch could have taken Ali, but again this all depends on Class.
Ali however, unlike anyone before had an ability to punch you in the face then when you managed to get your vision back he'd be jabbing you from the left then the right then the front. He was unique and this would still be a challenge for someone like MT. It is almost impossible to compare Ali with anyone else around now-a-days as boxing has change and to some extent so has the standards.
Hope this helped....
Edit: And Carlos R, I beg to differ, Boxers now are probably more competetive as when I was younger we used to be told it would give us a better future and I am not gonna lie to you, I once broke my best friends nose just because I was "too" competetive.
Is there a recent boxer that can beat Muhammad Ali in his prime ahhhhhhh no I believe if the Heavyweight Champion now was in the late 60's-90's that he wouldn't be even in the top ten boxers because fighters have less competitive .Most fighters are now training for MMA
Among today's heavyweights, there are none. No one among today's heavies would touch Ali, especially the pre-exile version. The man was just so fast on his feet.
no, no one comes close.
Like is there any boxers now a days that could actually put it up to Ali if we could put both fighters in their prime?
